Data suggests Tempe has failed to report how many homes it permits monthly to the Census Bureau.
Newly published data from housing researcher Salim Furth and data scientist Sid Kapur, reveals that Tempe has failed to respond to the US Census Bureau’s Building Permit Survey (BPS) 36 times over the past three years.
The Census Bureau surveys local jurisdictions to find out how many units of housing they permit monthly, making it one of the best sources for seeing how many new homes a locality is approving, as well as what housing types are being approved (single-family vs. multifamily).
It also allows us to make comparisons between jurisdictions. For example: how many housing units is Tempe building compared to say, Scottsdale?
Unfortunately, BPS suffers from data quality issues, due in large part to local jurisdictions failing to respond to their surveys. Based on the available data, it appears Tempe has failed to respond to the monthly surveys over the past three years, making us one of two large Arizona cities who are consistent non-responders. It also makes Tempe one of the worst offenders out of larger jurisdictions nationwide.
When cities fail to respond, the Census Bureau is forced to provide an imputed number, essentially a best guess of how many housing units are being permitted by a city monthly.
Why does this matter?
This data is used by policymakers, researchers, and industry to measure economic conditions and make decisions. Crucially, this data is used in the creation of Census Population Estimates which in turn are used in deciding how federal funding gets allocated to cities. This means Tempe’s failure to respond has financial implications for the city.
At the big picture level, we have a state and city-wide housing shortage. Having quality data on how many new homes are being permitted in Tempe is key to knowing both the scope of the problem as well as measuring the success of policies. Key to solving a problem is being able to measure it.
It is crucial that Tempe report high quality data on how many homes are being permitted.
We highly recommend Sid Kapur’s https://housingdata.app/ which provides an easy way to visualize and compare BPS data.
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